Detroit water system employees strike

Workers at the city of Detroit Water & Sewage Department Wastewater Treatment Plant at 9300 W. Jefferson hold picket signs in Detroit on Sunday. Workers from the Detroit waste water treatment plant walked off the job Sunday morning, protesting proposed cuts to their workforce. About 40 operations staffers left their posts at the plant, 9300 W. Jefferson, around 10 a.m. Sunday and began picketing, one union leader said. (AP Photo/The Detroit News, David Coates)

DETROIT — Employees of Detroit’s water and sewer system, which serves four in 10 Michigan residents, went on strike Sunday to protest plans to eliminate most of their jobs through privatization or other measures.

The union for 950 employees of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department said its members went on strike about 10 a.m. Sunday, setting up a picket line at a wastewater treatment plant in southwest Detroit’s Delray neighborhood.

Michigan law prohibits public worker strikes, and American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 207 said it expects Mayor Dave Bing’s administration to seek a back-to-work order.

“Workers are very happy to be fighting for a change,” said Michael Muholland, secretary-treasurer of American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 207. “Detroit has been taking it in the neck for so long.”

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Bing spokesman Robert Warfield said city officials would discuss the strike Sunday afternoon but had no immediate comment.

Detroit’s water system serves about 4 million people in southeastern Michigan.

Proposed job cuts in the Detroit water system follow an April agreement between Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder to head off a state takeover of the city’s finances because of persistent budget deficits.

After the agreement, Bing said a majority of the water department’s about 2,000 employees could lose their jobs. A plan unveiled by the Bing administration Aug. 8 would cut the number of department employees to about 375 over five years. About 360 outside employees would work for the department.

Local 207 president John Riehl said the union is seeking broader public support for what he said is a fight to preserve the living standard of working-class and middle-class families.

“We are Detroit,” he said in a statement. “This strike gives the people of Detroit a much needed and long awaited opportunity to change the balance of power in our favor.”